Linspire installed very easily, the only problem was caused by me not filling in a dialog correctly for the network settings. However, bl**dy bouncing systray icon will you effing well go away! Got that turned off. It seems they want some money for click-and-run and while it says that "most" updates will be distributed for free via CNR whenever possible, whether you have a paid-for CNR account or not, the only update available was one for errm CNR. I hope you don't have to pay for CNR if you've paid for the distro.

One of the first things that pops up after installation and some registration questions is a full-screen video thing (which I closed before it got anywhere), a lot like a fresh install of Windows really. I have yet to see if Linspire's functionality matches the hype.

I will probably get round to having another look at it at the weekend.

Edit: I have refrained from commenting on some of its filesystem weirdnesses, like the swap file in /boot - well alright I have commented on it now, but I could have mentioned more

I would copy the text from this page but it's part of an image, not actual text. Still, it says pretty much what I said above, I should have made clear that I meant security updates.
I'm not against the subscription model and CNR gold works out cheaper than Mandriva Club standard, to which it is roughly comparable (very roughly).
I think I still prefer Xandros (as a Windows alternative), but I need to play with it more to make a fair assessment.